Part Time Writer, Full Time Working Mom

Having a full time job as a bank account officer, part time article writer and a full time mom and wife is really hard. These three jobs has become part of my life, and losing one would make me feel incomplete. Among the three of course, my family is my priority. That is why I am trying to balance my full time job as an employee and my part time job as a freelancer. On the other hand, I am keeping my full time job because of the regular income and benefits that I receive.

Many of us have full time job while at the same time we earn extra income thru freelancing. I started joining Odesk in October 2011, luckily got my first contract within that month and now I get some of the jobs that I applied and earn from it. My 6 months of work experience in Odesk has been fulfilling. That is why I want to pursue my writing career until I get old.

Managing time for full time and part time jobs is not that easy. I am sharing my strategies on how I was able to cope with the situation considering that my little toddler needs quality time from her working mom. Hope the following tips might help you and I am willing to receive any comments or opinions so I can use them also in managing my time.

•     The first thing that I learned is to focus. Committing ourselves to our jobs is very important. Never try to do articles while working for the full time job. It will affect your job performance and you cannot concentrate on what you are doing. Give what is due for each job. Sometimes, when there is no much work in office or during break time, I write articles instead of checking my Facebook account. Also, as much as possible, do not accept jobs beyond your available time. I usually take jobs one at a time to build good reputation with my employers. I have my regular one article everyday job and batch articles which I only accept if I am already done with the other batch.

•    Have a time schedule. Set a consistent time each day to allow yourself to work without any interruptions. Make this a habit. It is better if you chose the time that you feel productive. One of my strategies also is applying for jobs with one week deadlines. These are usually in batches. I have more time during weekend and jobs in batches have bigger earnings. 

•     Choose your employers. Some contractors do not choose their employers and just try to apply all the jobs posted in Odesk. Choosing your employer is important. By checking their feedback rating, and their instructions, you can judge if they are professional, considerate and not spammers. Make sure also that their payment method is verified and make sure you already have a contract before writing for them.

•    Choose the job that is right for you. By knowing your strength, you can decide what articles you can write. Applying for jobs in Odesk for the first time is really hard because you don’t have the experience yet and you don’t have the feedback rating that employers can rely on. But by relying on your specialized areas, you are confident that you can accomplish the job successfully. If you will look at my Odesk profile, you will observe that I have more jobs pertaining to parenting, pregnancy and blogging. That is because, with these topics where I have first-hand experience, I can deliver quality output because I can share my own experiences without relying too much on research.

•    Have quality time for yourself and family. My full time job is 8AM to 4:30PM. Before sitting in my computer desk, I make sure that I already played with my little one and conversation with my hubby. Having quality time with your loved ones will give you inspiration in writing and at the same time you can have time to relax.